By Ethan Franke
I was just 13 years old when I first downloaded Rocket League back in July of 2015, a free “car soccer” game developed by a small indie company called Pysonix.
It was a simple design: Five-minute multi-player matches of either 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3, with cars that could flip and boost around in an enclosed soccer-like arena.
I can confidently say upon my first time playing that I thought the game was nothing more than a gimmick. I flung my car around carelessly, struggling to even hit the ball and laughing with my mates about how silly the experience was.
In the (almost) nine years since RL’s release, a lot has happened.
Hundreds of thousands of players filled the servers over the first few years. Then Epic Games reportedly spent close to half-a-billion Australian dollars purchasing the rights to RL back in 2019. And somewhere along the line, I accidentally logged 2000+ hours playing this “soccar” game.
So how is it that this underground indie project grew to become one of the most popular multi-player experiences on the market?
Here are some of my personal observations on why RL is still going strong to this day.
The ever-rising skill ceiling
The unique disposition with RL is that the mechanics developed from playing other genres or titles aren’t exactly transferable. There is no other “soccar” game available to play.
This makes for a fresh, albeit slightly annoying, starting point for newer players. The gameplay is intriguing enough to make for an enjoyable first few matches, but losing can light a fire inside you and challenge you to try and get better, so you can win more.
Playing for hours upon hours, however, will expose a player to a hugely different quality of gameplay from match to match.
As one climbs the ranks, things go from ground-based to more vertical, with cars flying around performing “aerials” and jumping off walls to challenge high volley shots.
Opponents will hesitate less when challenging for the ball and become more aggressive with their touches, upping the pace.
You may even be unlucky enough to notice opponents charging you down, because if they hit you at a high-enough speed, they will destroy your car and force you to respawn.
As all these factors become apparent, the gameplay becomes less of a random clusterf..k of driving your car around aimlessly, and results in a genuinely competitive demeanour on the field.
And if you think at any point that you have mastered RL, all it takes is one God-tier opponent to humble you and make you realise that there is still a lot of catching up for you to do.
It is at this point that you realise that …
Teamwork makes the dream work
Aside from individual skillsets, teamwork is a critical part of winning in RL. From the moment kick-off commences, 2v2 and 3v3 matches are filled with a sense of dependency on your teammate(s), and most of the time there is no verbal communication, it’s just game sense.
There are unwritten rules: the most left-side player goes for the kick-off, then there are set rotations between teammates after challenging for the ball. You will see one or two passing plays, players dribbling the ball and even crossing it over the goal to help set up a potential scoring opportunity.
At the lower end of the skill base, however, expectations can be low and most of the time attempts at playmaking will just boil down into ruined possessions, followed by everyone scrambling back on defence and eventually conceding a goal that will leave a team collectively pulling their hair out in frustration.
Rocket League can be a very poetic sport, resembling its real-life soccer counterpart with its potential for impressive displays of skill and high-energy moments.
Unfortunately, the hours of dedication required to make these displays occur can be unfathomable and leaves a lot to be desired for the average Joe, who logs on after a long day of work, just wanting to have a bit of fun.
Thankfully, though, the realm of professional gaming solves this problem quite well and leads me on to my next point.
It’s just as fun to watch as it is to play
YouTube and Twitch content creators are constantly showcasing the worldwide best of the best when it comes to RL, so much so that the skillsets of these players warranted the birth of a professional scene for the game.
The annual RLCS (Rocket League Championship Series) has been so successful as an esport since being established in 2016, that prize pools have reached up to $A4 million for winning.
The scary part? In nearly a decade of RL’s existence, the pros continue to get better. The displays of skill in some of the televised matches in RLCS history are almost beyond comprehension.
Yet even after outlining all these points, there is something that has been critical to RL’s success.
It’s just a fun game
Perhaps the most enticing aspects of RL are that it’s free and that it’s low commitment.
Five-minute matches are almost unheard of when it comes to competitive video games these days, and hopping on for a couple of matches is more of an in-and-out experience, rather than a waste of an entire night on the computer.
Logging on can be a solo endeavour, or a shared experience with either friends or random individuals.
And at the end of the day, whether you are just starting your RL journey, or you’ve been playing long enough to be considered a seasoned veteran, you can almost never get bored of a game about car soccer.
Featured image: Blue Team with the open shot on goal. Photo: Freya-PasSiFolle/CC/DeviantArt
